The game between USA and Iran is about basketball, not politics.

Played: 39 | Download | Duration: 00:02:03

        

By now you might've seen the incident involving Serbia's Nenad Krstic, Greece's Sofoklis Schortsanitis, and a flying chair which struck Ioannis Bourousis in the face. There's been plenty of commotion since and everyone's chimed in with their two cents. Should there be suspensions? Fines? Any punishment at all?  Who started it? Is Nenad a huge wuss? Would you have been any braver in the face of Big Sofo?

Well no matter your stance on the issue, we've got great news: Nenad has agreed to join ELA to express himself through song. Freaknick picks up the verse action while Nenad serenades us on the chorus. This is historic stuff.

Played: 4872 | Download | Duration: 00:02:45

        

Henner Schlaefke of German hoops blog Gruebelei.de joins Freaknick to talk about the Dirk-less Germans. Topics covered:

-Who needs to step up with Dirk and Chris Kaman out? If Dirk returns next summer will it damage any chemistry they might create in Turkey?

-Henner writes the book on FIBA's most impressive stable of young forwards: Tibor Pleiss, Tim Ohlbrecht, Elias Harris and Robin Benzing. Which one has the brightest NBA future?

-Is there extra pressure on Jan Jagla just because he's a 7-footer with blonde hair?

-Who'll be Germany's starting five?

-Will Germany ever get back to the level of play that saw them medal in the 2002 Worlds and the 2005 Eurobasket?

Plus find out why Henner thinks Germany will lose if faced with a last second shot and why the German domestic league is closing in on Spain, Greece and Italy.

Played: 372 | Download | Duration: 00:48:11

        

Ever since Os Davis of BallinEurope hopped on the Final Fourcast from Paris, folks have been asking for a re-run. Since ELA is in the business of delivering, we did the fancy timechange math, dusted off our respective Skypes and went at it during an hour long, transatlantic audio journey. The topics up for discussion:

-Novica Velickovic and A.D. Vassallo are two guys that need to step up to send their teams over the top. Who are some other guys that need to up their production to help their teams?
-The cream of the crop is pretty distinct, but which outside teams have a shot at medaling?
-What effect has the absence of NBA players---Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, et al---had on the build up this summer?
-And why is Freaknick happy to leave Kobe and LeBron at home?

So brew a pot of coffee, kick back and let the smooth stylings of Os Davis put your ears at ease:

Played: 136 | Download | Duration: 00:52:12

Remember you can subscribe on iTunes for FREE or check out the rest of the podcasts right here.

        

Ray Bala of CanBallReport joins Freaknick to answer all of his burning Canadian questions. Among them:

-Does Canada have a shot to advance?
-Who are the five that you'd entrust to do it?
-Where the hell is Steve Nash?
-Will Matt Bonner get his passport in time to stroke 3's in Turkey?
-Why are Kris Joseph and some of the other NCAA studs sitting this one out?

Any questions you might've had about Canadian basketball will be answered by clicking play.

Played: 140 | Download | Duration: 00:43:36

        

No Tony Parker, no problem. Roddy Buckets to the rescue, right? Notexactly. One broken Rodrigue Beaubois foot and now one of the world's fastest players willhave a cast on his puppy while his buddies run around in Turkey.

Australia,on the other hand, will have the Euroleague's highest ranked playerdown low: Aleks Maric. Oh it's on.

And we talk about otherstuff, too. Like, FIBA and other stuff.

Played: 112 | Download | Duration: 00:35:35

        

This portion of last year's draft gave us Victor Claver, Omri Casspi, Rodrigue Beaubois and the night's most surprising pick, Christian Eyenga. With international names like Kevin Seraphin, Nemanja Bjelica, Miroslav Radujlica and Aleksey Shved still on the board, things could get interesting.

Played: 168 | Download | Duration: 00:42:16

        

After slipping out of the top ten, Donatas is still sitting around in the green room. Will he get that phone call before the lottery is over, or have to wait into the late teens? And things get crazy as Slam and Freaknick spice things up with some risky (probably stupid) picks. Do I hear Terrico White, anyone?

Played: 159 | Download | Duration: 00:48:04

        

With John Wall and Evan Turner virtually assured the top two spots, how long will Syracuse's Wesley Johnson have to wait to hear his name called? And will Lithuanian Donatas Motiejunas crack the top 10? Slam and Freaknick flip a Euro for the first pick and then trade them all the way through the first round. The first 10 selections are here below, with the following 20 coming Thursday and Friday.

Played: 165 | Download | Duration: 00:49:16

        

Here's what we've all been waiting for folks. A collision of onloinebasketball powers. A 24-minute chunk of sound which will set the hoopsworld on its ear. Should Teodosic be the MVP? Should Rubio be on thefirst team? Will this game have far reaching global implications? IsDusko the best in the biz? Plus, we're joined on the podcast byEuroleague.net's Frankie Sachs, to both his and our surprise.

Played: 162 | Download | Duration: 00:23:53